Many people around the world sighed with relief when not only did
Martin Scorsese finally, FINALLY, win a best director Oscar for “The
Departed,” but the film itself was named Best Picture of the Year. It
seemed about bleedin’ time that Scorsese won this most prestigious
movie award; too bad it couldn’t have been for one of his more
personal, distinctive movies, but “The Departed” is terrific, grand
entertainment with a good cast, excellent production values and enough
violence to equip three or four standard horror movies. But this is a
Martin Scorsese gangster movie; he always emphasizes the blood and gore
attendant upon the gangster lifestyle, and he’s right to do so. His
movies aren’t for those disturbed by realistic depiction of violence,
but they’re also not exploitative—Scorsese is nothing if not honest.

And this time he was playful, too. “The Departed” is the first Scorsese
movie to have an intricate, surprise-packed plot, but, not
unexpectedly, he handles these elements with skill, finesse and
conviction.

Beginning in 2007, Warners Home Video has embarked on a somewhat
puzzling endeavor: they’re releasing DVDs with a high-definition print
on one side, a standard-definition print on the other. It’s hard to
envision the market this is intended for, but it’s nothing that
deserves to draw complains, just puzzled shrugs.

“The Departed” was a top-of-the-line production, and that’s the kind of
treatment it’s been given in this two-sided disc. The movie is on both
sides; on the first side, it’s in crisp, rich high definition which
makes the excellent cinematography by Michael Ballhaus as rich as it’s
likely to be in a home video release. Unlike a lot of gangster stories,
“The Departed” has many daylight scenes, often outdoors; there’s a
broad, expansive feel to the movie, sharply rendered in high
definition. Ballhaus and Scorsese use lighting very well; faces are
modeled, sets are clearly delineated. Also, the use of composition is
very strong, often adding to the story. And yet there’s nothing at all
flashy about the film—it’s straightforward storytelling, and the plot
and subject matter dictate the visual style, rather than the story
subjugated to a pre-chosen “look.” Night scenes are velvety, often
suffused with a light fog—Boston, the setting, is very near the sea,
after all.

The sound is also of high quality, which means that the impact of
bullets on frail human bodies, the sounds of heads colliding with
windshields, and the distinctive sounds of the many guns fired are
rendered with great fidelity and conviction.

Scorsese is also playful enough this time around to borrow elements
from older movies that he’s loved for years. In the worthwhile
documentary, “Crossing Criminal Cultures,” he points out how favorite
movies inspired specific elements in “The Departed,” from the X’s
frequently seen which he borrowed from Howard Hawks’ classic
“Scarface,” to other details from movies like “Public Enemy” and “White
Heat” (the latter one of the best gangster movies ever made). Scorsese
is a movie buff since childhood, but it’s rare for it to be as clear as
it is in “The Departed.”

This documentary also talks about “Infernal Affairs,” a Hong Kong movie
on which “The Departed” is based. Tom Duffy, a retired Massachusetts
state police officer, who was the film’s technical advisor, praises
Scorsese’s realistic treatment of gangsters, especially in
“GoodFellas.” Film critic Peter Travers is frequently seen, linking
Scorsese’s various gangster outings together; others who talk include
Louis B. Schlesinger, Ph. D., with the unlikely-sounding profession of
forensic psychologist, Patrick Nee, author of “A Criminal and a
Gentleman,” journalist Kevin Cullen, and “Departed” actors Leonardo
DiCaprio and Alec Baldwin.

Another documentary, “Stranger Than Fiction: The True Story of Whitey
Bulger, Southie and ‘The Departed,’” is an eye-opening examination of
Irish gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, on whom Jack Nicholson’s
“Departed” character, Frank Costello, is loosely based. There’s
documentary footage shot in “Southie,” the Irish area of South Boston,
and brief commentary from people who live there. William Monahan, who
won an Oscar for his screenplay of “The Departed,” is from Boston
himself, and adds some insights about Bulger and the Irish Mafia.
“Departed” actors Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg are also Boston natives,
and offer some of their life experiences. Wahlberg says he’s playing a
cop like those who regularly arrested him when he was a rowdy teenager.

Tom Cullen also appears, as well as journalists Shelley Murphy, Wemily
Sweeney and Kevin Cullen. One of them points out that Whitey actually
lived the subplot of the Jimmy Cagney gangster movie, “Angels With
Dirty Faces:” he turned gangster and his brother Billy became a
prominent Boston politician. One of the more surprising “talking heads”
is Kevin Weeks, who was himself a member of Whitey’s gang. When he
learned that Whitey was, like Costello in the film, an FBI informant,
he turned states’ evidence, winding up spending years in jail. Whitey’s
right-hand man Flenni is also in jail, as is John Connolly, the FBI
agent who was corrupted by being Whitey’s contact. As for Whitey—he’s
still out there somewhere, and is still on the FBI’s list of ten most
wanted men, right under Osama bin Laden.

This revealing, entertaining documentary was directed by Barbara
Toennies and Gildin Phillips; it alone is almost worth the purchase
price of this DVD, which overall is an ideal purchase for film buffs,
gangster movie fans and those trying to amass the best-quality
high-definition DVD releases.

And yet it’s not all it should have been. Where’s the commentary track?
A man as genial, eloquent and well-informed as Martin Scorsese would be
an ideal commentator for this film even if he HADN’T directed it—so
where is it? DiCaprio, Damon and Baldwin are also very effective
talkers, and should have done a track, too (perhaps with executive
producer Brad Pitt). For this movie, Scorsese encouraged Jack Nicholson
(the first time they’ve worked together) to improvise a lot, resulting
in bizarre but strangely convincing material that a writer is not
likely to have created. Again, Nicholson also could do a great
commentary track for this movie.

Perhaps Warners has an even more super-duper DVD release in mind
somewhere down the line, but that feels like something of a trick, a
device to require fans of “The Departed” to end up buying both
versions. Not far, boys—but that’s mostly because your movie is so
damned good.